Marks surgery was at 9 the next morning. Randy arranged with Mark for them to leave at 7, that way they would be there in time. They told mom that they were going to visit an old friend who had just come into town. Luckily she didn't ask who as she was in a rush. Randy hated lying to his mom but he wanted to help Mark feel as relaxed as possible, and if Mark didn't want mom and dad to know before hand, he wouldn't tell them.
Mark sat in the car, nervously touching the fresh cuts on his arm. That was the real reason he didn't want his parents there. After the surgery he was sure the doctors would tell them about all the cuts on his arm. He waited nervously for Randy to get in the car. He hoped the doctors wouldn't tell Randy either, but even if they did, he could trust his older brother not to tell his parents if he said he didn't want him to.
Four hours later Randy was sat at the edge of Mark's bed watching his little brother sleep. It hurt him to see Mark like this, he looked so weak. You could see all the slashes down his right arm. He had no idea Mark was so depressed he had resorted to this. He would cover the arm up when mom turned up and make sure they don't know.
Make's eyes slowly opened and Randy turned to face him.
"Hi Mark. Do you feel okay?
"Better than I thought, just sleepy. Randy, does mom know yet?" Then mark noticed his scratched arm was lying fully visible and whipped it under the covers.
"Yer mark" Randy said, acting as if he hadn't noticed the arm, "I phoned her an hour after you got out of surgery. She was slightly annoyed, but she said that they would come visit later tonight, when they were both done with work."
"Thanks Randy. Now if you don't mind, I feel quite tired." His eyes slowly drooped shut. Randy took that as his cue to leave. He decided to go to the canteen and get a coffee. His mind was somewhere else completely when he sat on the plastic chair sipping a steamy cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup. He still couldn't believe that mark had been self-harming. There were so many things he wanted to ask him. When, why, how long for? But he decided it would be best to wait til Mark was home again, then they could talk about it more privately. He chucked back the rest of his coffee and slowly wandered back to marks room, the image of the red scars all the
way up Mark's arm wouldn't leave his mind.
Two weeks later and Mrk was ready to be dispatched. He still had the stitches in and would have to return to the hospital in a week to have them removed, but he was allowed to go home for a while.
Jill had to work, Tim was filming Tool Time and Brad wasn't due home until that evening so Randy went to pick Mark up. He didn't mind, it gave him some time to talk to Mark alone.
Randy arrived at 11 that morning. He helped Mark into the passenger seat, put his bags into the trunk and clambered into the drivers seat.
"It'll be nice to be home again wont it?" Randy said, trying to start a conversation. Mark just mumbled something which Randy couldn't hear.
Mark realised the day of his operation that Randy had seen the cuts on his arm, as much as his older brother tried to hide it. Randy kept throwing concerned glances at Marks arm and it was driving mark crazy.
"Just ask for god's sake." Mark yelled.
"I was going to wait til we got home. Mark, I'm sorry if you didn't want me to know but I do, and I'm concerned."
"I know Randy, but I'm just not ready to talk about it, not yet. When I am, you're the first person I'll come to, okay?" Mark then encased his face in his hands and started to cry. Randy placed one of his hands on Marks shoulder and looked at his younger brother. Mark looked so vulnerable and so sad. Randy felt a twinge of guilt . If only…
"RANDY!" Mark screamed, pulling Randy out of his trance, just as their car tumbled down a ditch and slammed into a tree. Randy heard Mark release an ear piercing scream. Suddenly everything went black.
